HYPERTENSION WATCH

Home BP Monitoring Helps Lower Need for Drugs

A study reported in Hypertension
(December 1, 2007) looked at whether
antihypertensive treatment based on
self-measurement of blood pressure
(BP) decreases the use of medication
without the loss of BP control.

For the study, 430 patients with hypertension
were randomly assigned for
treatment using self-measured pressures
(n = 216) or office pressures (n = 214). Throughout the 1-year follow-up,
BP was measured by office measurement,
ambulatory monitoring, and selfmeasurement.
The researchers also
assessed drug use, associated costs,
and level of target organ damage. The
researchers concluded that self-measurement
results in less medication use,
compared with office BP measurement.
For more information on this study, visit
www.morningbp.com/pt31

Day, Night BP Readings Both Vital

A study of 7500 participants, reported
recently in The Lancet, questioned
that high nighttime blood pressure (BP)
readings are better signs of health risk,
compared with daytime BP readings.

"Some people have said that blood
pressure at night is the best predictor
of risk," said Thomas Pickering, MD,
who was not involved with the
research. "This study says that is not
actually the case, that the pressure
over the whole 24-hour period is
[best]."

Dr. Pickering chaired an American
Heart Association committee that in
2005 recommended that physicians
and patients start doing 24-hour BP
monitoring. "We are going to make new
recommendations about home blood
pressure monitoring to say that it
should be used much more widely than
it is at the moment."

BP and BMI Play a Role in Heart Failure

Patients with higher blood pressure (BP) and body mass
index (BMI) in mid-life face greater risk of heart failure later
in life, according to a study reported in Hypertension
(November 1, 2007).

Of the 3362 participants who had routine examinations
between 1969 and 1994, 518 developed heart failure. The
researchers assessed the patients' BP and pulse measure
and BMI measurements. The results indicated that recent
systolic BP, pulse pressure, and BMI were all linked with the
danger of heart failure. The findings stressed the importance
of screening for elevated BP early in life. For information on
this study, visit www.morningbp.com/pt35

Preeclampsia Associated with Heart Disease

Norwegian researchers found that women with cardiovascular
risk markers have greater risk of developing preeclampsia,
according to a study reported in the November 10, 2007, issue
of the British Medical Journal.

The study of 3494 women found that those women who had
high blood pressure (BP), high cholesterol, and high blood glucose
levels before pregnancy increased the risk of preeclampsia
7-fold. The findings also showed that women with a family
history of high BP, heart disease, or diabetes had twice the risk
of developing preeclampsia.

?The findings suggest that preeclampsia and cardiovascular
diseases may share a common origin, and that the increased
risk of cardiovascular disease subsequent to preeclampsia, at
least partly, is due to an underlying biological trait of the
woman,? said research fellow Elisabeth Balstad Magnussen.

The findings emphasize the need for women with a history of
high BP to monitor their BP at home during pregnancy. For
information on this study, visit www.morningbp.com/pt32

To avoid home BP devices that have failed validation
protocols from being sold in the United States, they recommend
that all home devices be required to have passed
one of the standard validation protocols, such as the one
established by the European Society of Hypertension or
the Association for the Advancement of Medical
Instrumentation. In addition, any device used by a patient
or the physician?s office must be validated as accurate in
each individual patient. This process should be done every
6 months. For information on this presentation, visit
www.morningbp.com/pt34

F A S T F A C T : Preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal and fetal death.